If you or someone you know struggles with alcohol consumption, there are plenty of alcoholism treatments that can help you regain control over your life. At Innovative Medicine in Lafayette, IN, we can help people just like you recover from their alcoholism through easy and effective treatment plans. If you’ve let alcohol control your life for too long, now is the ideal time to break the cycle of addiction.
What Alcoholism Treatments Are Available?
Several different types of alcoholism treatments can help you physically and emotionally sever your relationship with alcohol. Learning which one is best for you is the first step on the path to recovery. Our team can review your options with you and help you make an informed decision about your care.
Revia
Combined with counseling and medical supervision, Revia pills can be highly effective in helping alcoholics recover. Patients take these pills with or without food once a day. It’s important to remember to take the pills at the same time every day and not miss a day. Those who take Revia as directed are far less likely to want to abuse alcohol than those who don’t.
Vivitrol
Like Revia, Vivitrol is a prescription medication that is highly effective in reducing or eliminating alcohol cravings. It’s an injectable medicine that we offer in conjunction with counseling and medical supervision, and it can help you to cut back on your heavy drinking days. By reducing the number of heavy drinking days, Vivitrol can help people who abuse alcohol cut back or stop slowly and without a massive shock to the system.
Plus, you only need to get your Vivitrol shot once a month instead of having to remember to take a daily pill.
Support Groups
Support groups are popular alcoholism treatments that use positive reinforcement and community to help people put down the bottle. You can find these support groups online or in person. Many of these groups have sponsor programs where you can get one-on-one care and support. If the idea of working with a like-minded community to kick your addiction appeals to you, support groups could be precisely the answer.
Signs of Alcoholism
Since drinking is such a socially-accepted activity, it can be challenging to know if you or a loved one is teetering on the brink of alcoholism. Fortunately, there are a few ways to discover if there’s a problem brewing. If you catch alcohol dependency or abuse earlier, it’s far easier to get help and become healthy again. One of the key signs of alcohol abuse is drinking more than you want to. If you find yourself going out for just one beer and having five, you could have an issue.
If you’re struggling at work or school or putting off essential obligations because you have a hangover, you could be an alcoholic. Many alcoholics find that their relationships are strained too. Alcohol can wreak havoc on your finances and health. If you or someone you love is hiding alcohol or lying about how much they consume, it’s a serious sign of alcohol abuse. Craving alcohol is another sign that there’s a problem on the horizon that you have to address.
Legal Trouble
One of the more serious signs of alcohol abuse and one that often prompts people to finally seek alcoholism treatments is legal trouble. Alcohol can get you into big trouble, especially if you drink and drive. You could lose your license, have to pay exorbitant fees, or even injure yourself or others. So if you find yourself getting behind the wheel after having one too many, you might want to seek out help before it gets out of control.
You should also listen to friends and loved ones who make jokes or comments about your alcohol consumption. Often it’s challenging to broach tricky subjects with people we care about, so many times we turn to jokes and lighthearted remarks about serious topics. If you find that your loved ones are joking a lot more than they used it, it’s a problem. Also, look at yourself. Do you get defensive whenever someone brings up your drinking? If so, you should ask yourself why.
Long-Term Effects of Alcohol
The long-term effects of alcohol abuse can be highly detrimental to your health. Alcoholics are at significant risk of developing conditions like cirrhosis, an extremely serious condition where the liver stops working properly. Although it’s possible to live with cirrhosis, people who have it are generally weaker. Alcohol also damages the immune system, making it a lot harder to bounce back from even mild illnesses.
Severe alcoholics can be malnourished. This is because they tend to replace the calories that they would get from food with calories from alcohol. Since alcohol doesn’t have the nutritional makeup of healthy food, these people are missing out on the things they need to be healthy. On the other hand, some alcoholics will binge on unhealthy food during or after a night of drinking.
Benefits of Giving Up Alcohol
There are numerous mental health, financial and physical benefits of giving up alcohol for good. So if you find yourself heading down a dark path with liquor, wine, or beer, remember that staying sober has a ton of perks.
More Money
Alcohol is not cheap. You will save a lot of money simply by cutting it out. Heavy drinkers can spend hundreds of dollars on alcohol every week. When you factor in how alcohol can damage your productivity and eat up your sick days, it starts to become apparent that cutting it out is very fiscally smart.
Better Hydration
Alcohol dehydrates you, which is why you wake up after a night of heavy drinking and immediately reach for your water. If you drink less alcohol, your body will automatically have more hydration. Hydration is vital for bodily function and can help us stave off headaches and feel more energetic.
Dewier Skin
People who don’t drink have beautiful skin. This is thanks to a combination of increased hydration, better sleep, and healthier habits. Serious alcoholics can look sallow or have patchy skin because of malnutrition. Once you quit drinking and start eating healthy food again, you’ll see a vast improvement in your skin.
Improved Sleep
It’s a commonly-believed myth that alcohol helps you get a good night’s sleep. The opposite is true. Alcohol can disturb your sleep patterns, causing you to wake up multiple times in the middle of the night. If you want to get a really good night’s sleep and wake up truly refreshed, it’s time to get rid of the booze.
Good Organ Function
People who don’t drink have much better organ function than those who do. Alcohol damages your organs, especially the kidneys and liver. Once you quit drinking, these organs can have a chance to heal themselves.
Live a Sober, Happy Life Today
If you or someone you love drinks too much, there are plenty of alcoholism treatments available to help. You truly don’t have to work through it alone. We offer revolutionary medical treatments designed to help you or your loved one kick the addiction for good. Contact Innovative Medicine in Lafayette, IN, at 765-637-0630 today for a consultation on your treatment options.
